1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transfer apparatus for transferring pre-processed sheets discharged from an outlet of a sheet-processing apparatus such as a photographic processing apparatus and a copying apparatus.
2. Discussion of the Background
According to a conventional photographic processing apparatus, a strip of photosensitive material is cut to sheets of a predetermined length by a cutter or the like. After cutting operation, film images on a negative film are respectively exposed onto the photosensitive material sheets, which are then transferred to a developing station to be developed, bleached, fixed and stabilized. These processes will be generically named xe2x80x9cdeveloping processxe2x80x9d. The developed photosensitive material sheets are transferred to a drying unit to be dried, and subsequently to a collecting unit such as a tray to be properly collected or stacked thereon.
For collecting on the collecting unit, the photosensitive material sheets are usually sorted and held in a pile for every size, or every customer""s order. Customer""s orders generally include a simultaneous printing order and an extra printing order. The simultaneous printing order means that one or several prints in service sizes or the like for all frame images on a film are ordered simultaneously with the development of the film, and the extra printing order means that one or several prints for a film image in a particular frame on a negative film are ordered. With a recently developed camera using an APS film, images can be shot in various size frames, such as standard size frame, panoramic size frame and high-vision size frame in a single film.
To array photosensitive material sheets (objects to be transferred) according to a size or order thereof on the collecting unit, it is necessary to transfer the objects or dried photosensitive material sheets (i.e., pictures) to the collecting unit by a transfer apparatus having some type of a transfer mechanism.
FIG. 5 illustrates a schematic perspective view of a photographic processing apparatus equipped with a conventional transfer apparatus. FIG. 6 is a schematic perspective view of the transfer apparatus and its proximity in the photographic processing apparatus of FIG. 5. Specifically, the conventional transfer apparatus illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6 includes a transfer unit 101, a first collecting unit 102 and a second collecting unit 103, in which the transfer unit 101 is constructed by employing a belt conveyor 101a that is rotatable in a predetermined direction, and the first collecting unit 102 is constructed by employing a plurality of trays 102a. The plurality of trays 102 are rotated in the direction of arrow Cxe2x80x2 to introduce a new tray into a sheet-receiving position for receiving the photosensitive material sheets for a new order, etc.
According to the arrangement of FIGS. 5 and 6, after being subjected to the drying process, the dried photosensitive material sheets are sorted according to their sizes, and discharged from different outlets, namely a first outlet 111 for a smaller size (e.g., the size of not more than 102 mm (4 inches)) and a second outlet 113 for a larger size (e.g., the size of not less than 127 mm (5 inches)).
The photosensitive material sheets of the smaller size discharged from the first outlet 111 and moved onto the belt conveyor 101a of the transfer unit 101 in the direction of arrow Axe2x80x2 are transferred to the first collecting unit 102 by rotating the belt conveyor 101a in the direction of arrow Bxe2x80x2. The photosensitive material sheets in each order are basically placed on each tray of the plurality of trays 102a of the first collecting unit 102, and therefore those in a new order is collected on a different tray which has been introduced into the sheet-receiving position by rotating the first collecting unit 102 in the direction of arrow Cxe2x80x2.
The photosensitive material sheets of the larger size discharged in the direction of arrow Dxe2x80x2 from the second outlet 113 are collected on the second collecting unit 103 located right below the second outlet 113.
With the photographic processing apparatus employing the above transfer arrangement, the photosensitive material sheets as the objects to be collected can be properly sorted and collected on the collecting units according to a size, order, etc.
In the photographic processing apparatus with the transfer apparatus as mentioned above, the photosensitive material sheets are subjected to the sorting operation as they are transferred, thereby properly collecting them in the first collecting unit 102 closer to the first outlet 111 and the second collecting unit closer to the second outlet 113 according to their sizes, orders, etc. This conventional transfer arrangement or photographic processing apparatus using the same, however, requires a sorting mechanism to be provided inside of the photographic processing apparatus for sorting the photosensitive material sheets either to the first outlet 111 or the second outlet 113 according to their sizes. This leads to a complicated structure of the apparatus, and therefore increase the manufacturing costs, since a limited inner space of the photographic processing apparatus results in a complicated formation of paths of the photosensitive material sheets, which requires a lot of associated parts, such as a path-switching device, feeding rollers and driving rollers. Moreover, such a limited inner space results in a narrowed path of the photosensitive material sheets, which is likely to cause xe2x80x9cchewing upxe2x80x9d of the path of the sorting mechanism with the photosensitive material sheets.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a transfer apparatus that is capable of sorting the objects to be transferred according to their sizes, orders, etc., by employing a relatively simple structure.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a photographic processing apparatus having the transfer apparatus of a relatively simple structure.
To achieve the above objects, there is provided a transfer apparatus for transferring pre-processed sheet materials discharged from an outlet of a sheet processing apparatus including a transfer unit provided outside of the outlet for receiving the sheet materials discharged from the outlet and transferring the sheet materials to a plurality of collecting sites, in which the transfer unit is capable of selectively shifting the transfer direction thereof in such a manner as to transfer each of the sheet materials to a predetermined collecting site.
According to the transfer apparatus of the above arrangement, even in the case where the sheet materials are to be collected at a plurality of collecting sites, it is not necessary to provide a corresponding number of outlets for discharging the sheet materials of different sizes, orders, etc., since the transfer unit capable of transferring the sheet materials to a plurality of collecting units is provided outside of the outlet of the sheet processing apparatus. Specifically, the transfer apparatus of the present invention enables the sheet processing apparatus to omit parts for making up an additional discharging mechanism, which may include feeding rollers, a path switching device, etc., and therefore can obtain a sheet processing apparatus with a relatively simple structure as compared with a conventional apparatus.
The transfer unit of the sheet transfer apparatus preferably includes a belt conveyor for transferring the sheet materials to the plurality of collecting sites located at both sides of the belt conveyor, a driving means for driving the belt conveyor to be rotated in the forward and reverse directions, and a control means for controlling the driving means to selectively shift the rotational direction of the belt conveyor, thereby shifting the transfer direction of the transfer unit.
The above transfer unit allows the sheet transfer apparatus to be effectively arranged. Specifically, the sheet transfer apparatus can include a conventional sensing means for detecting a size, order, etc., of each of the sheet materials, and the control means that controls the driving means in the form of, for example, a conventional DC motor to selectively rotate the belt conveyor in either direction by timely reversing the direction of the drive of the motor by reversing the current to the motor. Thus, the transfer direction of the sheet materials placed on the belt conveyor is selectively shifted, so that the sorting operation of the sheet materials can be accomplished without requiring an additional sorting mechanism. Whereby, it is possible to obtain a sheet transfer apparatus with a relatively simple structure that is capable of sorting the sheet materials according to size, order, etc., of the sheet materials.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a photographic processing apparatus having a drying unit for drying pre-processed photosensitive material sheets and defining an outlet for discharging the photosensitive material sheets dried in the drying unit therethrough, which includes a transfer unit provided outside of the outlet for receiving the photosensitive material sheets discharged from the outlet and transferring the photosensitive material sheets to a plurality of collecting sites, in which the transfer unit is capable of selectively shifting the transfer direction thereof in such a manner as to transfer each of the photosensitive material sheets to a predetermined collecting site.
With the photographic processing apparatus of the above arrangement, a sorting operation of the photosensitive material sheets can be accomplished by a relatively simple structure.